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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23931259">Betting Phase</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk'>F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Keep it Real, Trust Your Dreams (and Soon You'll Stand Here Next to Me) [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: X-Wing Series - Aaron Allston &amp; Michael Stackpole</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, NRI knows all, Secret Plans, lucky for Wedge Cracken is reasonable, pre insertion into Coruscant, they're basically big brother is watching</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:08:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,405</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23931259</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Wedge and Tycho make a bet with luck that could put both their careers on the line. Meanwhile, Kirtan Loor has his own plans, and General Airen Cracken makes an interesting discovery.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Wedge Antilles/Tycho Celchu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Keep it Real, Trust Your Dreams (and Soon You'll Stand Here Next to Me) [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719898</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Betting Phase</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Tycho stood just outside Wedge’s office, awkwardly avoiding meeting the gaze of the Alliance Security lieutenant just down the hall. Salm had </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> been happy after the stunt with trapping the security team in his quarters, but once he and Mirax had explained everything to both Salm and Wedge, Salm had grudgingly admitted that perhaps he had done what was needed. Somehow the incident hadn’t resulted in him gaining more surveillance, but sometimes it didn’t feel like it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally,</span>
  </em>
  <span> the door opened and Erisi and Corran exited, datachits in hand. “Oh! Captain Celchu,” Erisi smiled at him, “Sorry if we kept you waiting.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not at all,” he nodded back. “I’m aware you two are leaving almost immediately; good luck on the mission.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why thank you. We hope to make it back to you soon enough.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tycho glanced between Erisi and Corran for a moment. Corran hadn’t spoken at all and was in fact looking at him with a stare very similar to the NRI agents. He resisted the urge to shrink into himself, putting up the blank wall he was far too used to putting up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, we’ll leave you and the Commander to it. Come on, Corran,” Erisi pulled on his arm, “let’s finish up prep.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He watched them wander down the hall in low conversation until a hand landed on his arm. Tycho turned to meet a smiling Wedge. “Ah, there you are, Tycho, come on in.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The moment the door closed behind him Tycho found himself pulled down into a kiss. After a moment of surprise, he slid one hand into Wedge’s hair and the other around his waist and pulled him closer. They reveled in the contact, all too rare and about to get even rarer. He chuckled when they were finally forced to part for air. “Did you call me here just for a goodbye kiss?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wedge grumped at him. “It’s not a goodbye kiss if I have anything to say about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tycho raised a questioning eyebrow. Wedge responded by stepping back and making a show of adjusting the collar of his uniform back to its usual spot, a clear signal that he was transitioning to business. Making his way back to his chair, Wedge clearly thought he was explaining something when he asked Tycho: “How much of Coruscant do you remember?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tycho blinked at him for a moment. “Uh, most of it, why? All of it is in the reports I gave to NRI.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, for one thing, most of those reports are too classified for me to access. Second thing, I really think that they’re making a mistake not sending you along. You’re one of the few people we have that has actually been on Coruscant in the past two years. You know the undercity, the Imperial patrols, anything and everything a dozen pilots need to make their way around without getting caught.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“NRI must have agents on the ground already,” Tycho pointed out, “Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to insert you. You </span>
  <em>
    <span>specifically,</span>
  </em>
  <span> given you’ve been paraded around almost as much as Luke.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, but you’re also a </span>
  <em>
    <span>pilot.</span>
  </em>
  <span> A very good one, who I would love to have as backup.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Commander. Wedge. What are you planning?”</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>Kirtan Loor glanced over the latest report from the spy in Rogue Squadron. They were being inserted into Coruscant immediately after sending the report, on a ship called the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jewel of Churba.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Captain Celchu was being kept on Noquivzor with the squadron’s X-Wings and other gear. A smart move, he supposed, for New Republic Intelligence, but unfortunately meant that the spy would not be able to use his suspicion to deflect from themself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still, given what Isard had told him about Rogue Squadron’s executive officer, it would destroy their commander’s morale if Celchu was killed. Without their commander on a stable platform, the whole squadron would fall apart, and that, that was key to her plans. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d bet Zsinj would appreciate some intelligence. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>“General Cracken?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Airen Cracken looked up from his datapad to see Admiral Ackbar standing in his office doorway. “Ah, my dear Admiral. Thank you for coming on such short notice, but I wanted to let you know of a recent development.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ackbar nodded and moved to a chair. “I was informed it had something to do with Rogue Squadron. As they have already inserted into Coruscant, I assume this is pressing and something I will need to inform Commander Antilles of.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cracken smiled wryly. “On the contrary, Admiral, I’m certain he is already aware of this. It’s not something he would include in a report, however, given that he likely jumped through several loopholes to do it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Mon Calamari blinked at him slowly. “There are many things I have seen Commander Antilles swim through schools to do. One, however, sticks out in my memory.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“His insistence on having Captain Celchu as his XO rides high in mine as well. It is, in fact, the reason I looked into this. As, apart from the incident of locking Alliance Security in his quarters that turned out to have a good reason, Captain Celchu has not demonstrated any subversive behavior, I was going to leave the latest report from Emtrey for a few days while seeing to other things. However, one of my aides informed me that it came through in double.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Double?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I traced both copies before opening either of them. One originated from Noquivzor, as expected, but the other originated from somewhere outside of the usual NRI channels.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ackbar sighed. “Coruscant?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Coruscant. I have confirmed that the one from Coruscant is indeed Emtrey, while the one from Noquivzor seems to be one of Rogue Squadron’s astromechs. Apparently, no one ever explicitly told Commander Antilles that Captain Celchu couldn’t follow the squadron to Coruscant, so he saw fit to arrange using a few underworld contacts of his own for Celchu and Emtrey to arrive at Coruscant about the same time as him. The astromech I believe is filing reports for them isn’t Antilles’ astromech and in fact, is not technically Alliance property. Therefore, it’s impossible to correlate any order from him with the astromech’s actions.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“General,” Ackbar slowly asked, “do you consider Celchu a threat to operational security?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cracken considered. “I do not believe that Celchu is the mole we’ve been considering in Rogue Squadron. Nor do I truly believe he is a Lusankya agent; he doesn’t fit the profile we have from the others and has been given multiple opportunities to kill Antilles and other important Alliance figures. Nor is this Antilles acting out of sentimentality; I’ve seen how he operates commanding a squadron of friends and, yes, lover, since Hoth. The only hint of sentimentality I have ever seen from him is a little too long a hug after a mission.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do believe that Antilles knows what he’s doing and that he would not have arranged this without thinking it through. No, I do not believe Captain Celchu a threat to operational security. However, I would keep this conversation between us. Given that Celchu is a pilot and knows Coruscant fairly well, the reasoning behind bringing him in is fairly obvious. Antilles wants something that he can play when push comes to shove, a sabacc card that won’t change on him. He and Celchu made a bet with the Force that, despite the odds, I sorely hope works out in their favor.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ackbar gave the Mon Calamari version of a smile. “And we all know how much Corellians hate odds.”</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>Wedge leaned into the surprisingly comfortable backseat of the airspeeder. Iella and Pash were in deep conversation in front of him, leaving him to relax for the first time since he’d boarded the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jewel.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He stuck his fingers into the prosthetic mask, poking around for the small comlink that was part of the mask’s vocoder. It popped out into his hand, still whole and working. A series of taps sent a confirmation to High Command that he had successfully inserted into Coruscant.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A twist of the bottom of the commlink and a button press set the device to a new frequency. Wedge clicked the comm on and off twice. The signal whispered through Coruscant’s comm channels, bound for another commlink. Shortly after, he received three clicks back. He smiled and slipped the comm into a pocket. Tycho and Emtrey had safely arrived.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With any luck, the mission would end with a pure sabacc. </span>
</p>
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